This invention relates to a method and apparatus for removing long tails from folded signatures and collating the trimmed signatures with the other folded signatures in a bindery line.
The so-called xe2x80x9clong tailxe2x80x9d folded signatures have a longer length than the other folded signatures being collated on the bindery line. Usually, the longer length is due to printing of the signatures on an offset printing press, where the length is limited to defined increments which do not exactly match the length of the other signatures being printed on a Gravure printing press, where the length of the signature can be set to the desired length. Often, the long tail, folded signatures are cover signatures which are the outer cover pages for the book of folded signatures after they are stitched or otherwise bound to one another. In some instances, the long tall, folded signatures are inserts that are dropped onto the saddle upstream of other signature feeding stations which thereafter drop the remaining signatures over the now-trimmed, former long tail signatures. Heretofore, the long tail, folded signatures were cut in an off-line process manually using a bracket trimmer or a flat bed cutter. An operator would take 50 or 100 long tail signatures and manually operate the bracket trimmer or flat bed cutter to cut these signatures to size. Typically, a cut of about 1 to 1xe2x85x9 inches was trimmed and was waste.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,507,037, a cover signature is transferred and collated with the other signatures; and at a next station, the signatures are jogged and registered and then center stitched with the head and tail being trimmed at the next station prior to folding the signatures. This United States Patent is directed to a web conveyor line where the signatures are flat and unfolded when the cover signature is added, rather than being folded signatures being carried on a saddle.
In accordance with the present invention, long tails of folded cover signatures are trimmed while being fed to a pocket feeder from which the trimmed, folded signatures are dropped onto collated, folded signatures being carried along by a bindery line conveyor. In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the already-folded, long tailed signatures are fed in an overlapped or shingled condition by a jogger type of stream feeder through an on-line trimming station where a jogger/pusher pushes against the long signatures to force them laterally against a stationary, registering surface such as a side guide. The registered, untrimmed cover signatures then travel into the trimming station where the edge opposite the long tail is trimmed. The trimmed waste goes into a collecting chute or box, and a vacuum hose conveys the trimmed waste to a main recovery system. The trimmed, folded, cover signatures are fed into a pocket feeder board that jogs and places the trimmed cover signatures for automatic griping, rotating and dropping in timed sequence onto a collated stack of signatures on the saddle.
In accordance with the preferred embodiment of the invention, the preferred stream feeder for the untrimmed, folded cover signatures includes an uphill streamfeeder with the cover signatures disposed between a pair of conveyor belts with the jogging means being on the side of the folded signatures opposite the long tail. The preferred cutting means for the long tail, cover signatures comprises a rotating, slitting wheel and an opposing, rotating anvil. The slitting wheel is preferably a rotating disc with a beveled, cutting edge that cooperates with a resilient insert on the anvil. Herein, the cutting wheel is mounted on a rotary shaft and rotated by a variable speed drive.
After being dropped into the signature feed boxes, the trimmed cover signatures are then fed by a rotary gripper mechanism to drop onto a stack of collated signatures to complete the covered book. After stitching, the final book including the previously-trimmed cover is trimmed to the final book size.